"That girl thinks she's the world's belly button."

My present fixation with the southern fiction genre led me to look up lists of southern fiction authors. On one list is author, Lois Battle. I picked up her book Storyville last month and liked it enough to check out The Florabama Ladies Auxiliary & Sewing Circle on my last trip to the library. I get a kick out of some the southern truisms thrown in the mix. Here are a few of them:

"If procrastination was the thief of time, she could be convicted of grand theft."

"Sometimes telling the truth is just an excuse for meanness."

"Most men I know only got five gears: if they can't eat it, drive it, fix it, or screw it...they've gotta kill it."

"The gist of all biblical quotations seems to be, "You're in trouble but you deserve it."

"That girl thinks she's the world's belly button."

"Just when you think life is a bitch, it has puppies."

"The trouble with experience is you have to do all the wrong things before you get it."

I suppose the book could be categorized as chick lit, which for the most part, I don't like, mainly because chick lit only encompasses the younger reader (under age 40) in regards to dating, but most especially shopping. The protagonist in this book is slightly younger than me and her problems more closely mirror my own. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's a quick, entertaining read with little jewels of wisdom.

I would love to go

but I can't plan that far in advance.

Stuff

At first I was reticent about Facebook, but I have caught up with so many old friends because of it that now I'm a regular. There's a beach get together in the works for next summer in New Hampshire for a few of us hens. I hope I am able to go.

I don't know what's up with my blog template but I wish it would cut that out.

I made a cd yesterday of a lot of songs I would never have heard of if not for the internet. It's good "painting" music.

But it's not good "cleaning house" music. For that I need loud and energetic, not ambient.

I'm not telling secrets when I say this heat sucks the life out of you.

Today is football weigh-in day for my oldest grandson. As has become the norm, he is right on the cut off weight to be able to carry the ball. I hope the scale used at weigh-ins weighs the same or less as their home scale or he's going to be so disappointed.

Baby grandson has perfected crawling and has become a little terror. He knows what no means but he just grins and goes back to what he shouldn't be doing. Why do electrical cords fascinate him so? He's also getting pretty good at pulling himself up on the furniture but has suffered some bumps from the coffee table.

Thus goes my exciting life, try to contain your envy.


EDIT: He made weight with 5 lbs. to spare. WooHoo! Can't wait til the games start.

I'm painting again!

All my life I have drawn and painted, it used to be my passion. Somewhere along the line I stopped. Too many other things got in the way. I decided to get it back. I started this painting years ago for a friend who asked me to paint her something bright. Even though I felt it was going well I never finished it. I'm going to do it now. I'll post another photo when I finish it. I paint slowly so it might be a while.
(It really looks better if you don't click in closer ;P)

Ya'll, I'm turning over a new leaf and I'm ready to have some fun. No more moping and hoping and living in the past. I'm ready to dance, at least metaphorically.

I came across this photo of E.E. Cummings and Marion Morehouse several years ago and saved it. Not that it matters, but Wikipedia says it's not clear if they ever legally married but they lived together in a common law marriage for about 30 years until his death in 1962. I don't know why, but I think it's one of the saddest photos I've ever seen. He's looking across the table at her with bemused resignation, and she appears almost distraught in posture and can't bear to look him in the eye.

More than likely what's really going on is he's already decided what he wants to order and she's still looking down reading the menu and trying to decide between the chef salad and the burger with fries.

Maybe after dessert he wrote this on a napkin. It could've happened.

i have found what you are like by E. E. Cummings

Water Drama

My phone rang at around 5 a.m. on Monday. You know the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when the phone wakes you up from a sound sleep and it's still dark outside. Your mind automatically jumps to the awareness that something is wrong.

Luckily, it wasn't something wrong with a family member. It was an automated call from the City of Weatherford alerting its citizens about a water main leak which necessitated turning off the water supply. We were without water for two days and even though it's back on we're told it's not fit for consumption or for washing dishes, but we can bathe. If we can't do dishes in it why is it safe to take a shower in it?

And wouldn't you know, I had a sink full of dishes needing to be washed. I don't suppose it's a good idea to do laundry either if the water is full of sediments, etc that might stain. There IS icky stuff in the water. After boiling water and pouring it through a Brita filter I can see the nasty stuff in the dregs at the bottom of the pan in which the water was boiled. EW.

It sure gives one an appreciation for modern conveniences and a slight insight into what it must have been like before modern plumbing. Imagine having to haul the water to the house.

When the water supply was turned back on we were told we were in level five drought conditions with a ban on outside watering. Last night the ban was lowered to a level four. My potted plants and morning glories are happy, but sadly, it might be too late for the petunias.

Another old favorite

Dave Mason - We Just Disagree
Have I posted this song before or have I only thought about it?

Not quite a murder of crows

These fellows scavenging for food in the yard across the street remind me of the ravens at the Tower of London.

The counselor I spoke to after finding out what I found out about my marriage told me the reason people do what they do even if they know what they're doing is wrong is that doing what they want to do makes them feel good. That was a convoluted sentence. He was not the right counselor for me. At the beginning of our first session he held up a sign that had the word crying with a slash through it, as in NO CRYING. My marriage was ending and he didn't think I should cry?! WTF! Still, I think he was right about what motivates us to act on things we know we shouldn't, to a point. There are some things we do that don't make us feel good, yet we keep doing them. What is the motivation behind that? Stuck in a rut? Habit? Hope? Brain Chemistry? Mental Illness? Stupidity?